Two Ways to Treat Your ADHD
By Dana Rayburn, Adult ADD Coach

ADDed Success is ADD Coach Dana Rayburn's monthly newsletter about living
successfully with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Welcome to ADDed Success!
Imagine your kitchen bursts into flames. You call 911.

Within minutes the fire fighters pull up to your house. Quickly they assess the
situation, ensure your family is safe and attack the most dangerous and pressing
problems first.

When the flames are out, the fire crew mops up and makes sure no hot spots
remain.

Yet, you don't have to wait for a fire to break out before you call the fire
department.

Most fire fighters are happy to make an appointment to stop by your house at a
calm, convenient time to help you prevent a fire and learn what to do when one
starts.

Treating ADD is like that.

Let's use coaching as an example - it's only one of the treatments for ADHD, but
the one I'm most familiar with.

I've noticed people call in search of basically two types of ADD coaching:
Disaster Recovery Coaching and Preparedness Coaching.

When unmanaged ADHD has taken its toll on the person's life, Disaster Recovery
Coaching is needed. The disorganization, lack of follow-through, missteps and
mishaps have caught up with the client. Disaster has struck in the form of
something like a lost job, a failed marriage or financial doom.

Preparedness Coaching is called for when someone is fed up with ADHD's impact
on his or her life and wants to learn to manage the struggles before they cause a
disaster.

Each type of coaching requires a very different approach with very different
results.

With Disaster Recovery clients, I'm coaching in “response mode” - responding to
the diminishing bank balance, threats from their spouse or poor performance
reviews at work.

Coaching can help soften the fall, but often it's just too late. The clients end up
losing their job, their marriage or their financial security.

Results typically are much more satisfying for Preparedness clients.

Without the urgency and distraction of flames licking at the window frame, I can
take the time to teach clients how to live more easily with their ADHD.

We have the luxury of setting up routines, creating meaningful structure and
enhancing their awareness of how ADHD interferes with their daily lives.

Will Preparedness Coaching prevent disaster from happening? Not necessarily.
Stuff happens. But you'll be more apt to avoid trouble when you're managing
your ADHD. You'll be better prepared to ride out situations with fewer debilitating
consequences.

It boils down to this: Disaster Recovery coaching has shallower results. It doesn't
provide the life-changing results that Preparation coaching does.

If you have unmanaged ADHD you've a good chance that someday disaster will
strike. It's only a matter of time.

Pretty soon your boss will figure out you're not doing your work or your clients
will tire of your excuses for missed deadlines. Your credit cards will be maxed
out or foreclosure will start on your house. Your husband or wife will have had it
and will tell you that though they love you, they can't live with you and your
chaos any more.

Please, get help now. Don't wait until the consequences are severe before you
seek sufficient treatment for your ADHD

The Last Word
This disaster recovery versus preparedness realization about ADHD treatment
came to me at 2 AM the other night.

Tossing and turning, I couldn't stop thinking about one of my clients who despite
a year of coaching would be fired from his job in the morning.

He'd learned so much during our coaching and was managing his ADHD much
better. Yet the process had started too late. His bosses already had so soured on
him and his performance they couldn't see the improvements.

Hence, he was losing the job he loved and had held for 15 years.

To make it worse, his creativity and innovations truly benefited the company. But
ADHD havoc overshadowed any contributions he had made.

During our coaching calls we'd been too busy avoiding a pink slip to talk much
about strengths and weaknesses, brain sputters and bringing back the fun into
life. The true goodies ADD coaching provides. The stuff of outsmarting ADHD.

To Your ADDed Success,
Dana

PS. - Trouble Staying Organized? No Problem! Reserve your copy of 'Organized
for Life' at the special 'early-bird' price.

Unleash Your Power
My clients improve their productivity, increase their profits, and take control of
their life. Learn more about coaching for business people and other high
functioning adults with ADHD.

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